New studio set to rise from RTW ashes

MyWorld deal involving new development entity is close, source claims

Realtime Worlds' tumultuous month has taken another sharp turn, with claims that a new developer is being formed to take on the continued development of Project: MyWorld and key staff.

Administrator Begbies Traynor announced this morning that 23 members of the MyWorld team had been rehired after "considerable interest from potential buyers".

But GamesIndustry.biz understands that only one serious buyer has come forward for MyWorld, with plans to staff a new studio with the 23-strong team - set to remain in the current Dundee offices - which will focus initially on seeing MyWorld through to its projected spring 2011 launch.

The swoop for the project is believed to be led by a figure with an existing relationship with Realtime Worlds – and the deal could be in place by the start of next week.

A source close to the Scottish studio said: "The entire MyWorld team was called in for a meeting yesterday, during which people found out who was being rehired. Afterwards, senior members of the team were told about the new deal and that it was just a matter finalising the paperwork."

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz this afternoon, a spokesperson for the administrator said that it was unwilling to offer more insight, but that there may be further news next week, stating there is "nothing forthcoming at this time. The administrators are just getting on with the business of looking at what the possibilities are."

Meanwhile, further details have emerged relating to the manner in which Realtime Worlds staff were informed of redundancy, as the studio entered into administration this week.

A source claimed: "All the APB team - over a 100 people - were told to gather in a meeting room. And then the names of those who were being made redundant were read out over a microphone, and they had to leave the room one-by-one and collect their redundancy package."

Project: MyWorld is said by those familiar with its development to be "almost finished", with the massive reduction in team size – 23 down from 60 – not expected to impact negatively on the remainder of the project.

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Finally some good news for those affected and for Dundee itself. Seems like the myWorld team was kind of like an innocent bystander to the APB disaster. It would be great if a group of former APB staff manage to set up a new studio too, as I'm sure many are currently considering. It would be great for them and great for Dundee.